I've rarely been drawn to female rockers. Don't get me wrong, I totally acknowledge the talents of Carole King, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Joni Mitchell, Lucinda Williams, Chrissie Hynde, Patti Smith, all those glorious "girl groups", to name but a few, but my tastes have almost uniformly been male. I truly don't believe it means that women are any less capable when it comes to rocking out, but let's face it, rock music, like most other industries, has been male dominated because equal access was denied, it's a somewhat risky life style what with shitty hotels, long travels, crappy food, shady venues and some sleazy operators. And honestly, the ladies probably had better things to do. And I know I've never given Sleater Kinney the chance to bowl me over, but one day!

I visited Cleveland and the RRHOF two years ago. It was a bit of a disappointment to see so many bands that that never moved me in the least. Just glancing from A-D I'm shaking my head at Aerosmith, ACDC, Billy Joel, Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi (are you kidding me?), Chicago, CS and N, Deep Purple...I read those and think, boring, shallow, insipid dreck. But that's just me, and I know it's totally subjective, and one's love of music often depends upon where you were, what you were going through, and who you were with, when it grabbed you. 

Those folks never spoke to me in the least. Now, just offering up a few "Pauls" I'd gladly share a few beers and make an overwhelming case for Paul Kelly, Paul Heaton, and Paul Weller (The Jam stuff that is). Graham Parker should be there for his first four albums (after that, it's more than spotty), as should The Bottle Rockets, Joe Ely (for the early stuff when Butch Hancock wrote him a slew of gems), Garland Jeffreys, Mick Thomas solo and his band, Weddings Parties Anything, Richard Thompson, Warren Zevon, The Go-Betweens, and when it's time, Frank Turner. 

I know, my tastes aren't mainstream, thankfully, but damn, they've created this institution that has to justify itself by inducting artists that don't hit me on any level. 

Peter T.